Manchester - Paris Direct by Train

[Longsight M13]

Is this still there? I've not been past in a long time...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manches...national_Depot

[GShutty]

It's not the dream that we may all have- but it's pretty good!

I've just booked a weekend (long weekend) to Paris and doing the whole journey by train. So what? I hear you say. Well here are some of the details....

There are 3 of us travelling (2 adults one 8yr old)

Piccadilly to Euston- 7am train taking 2h 15mins- £31.25 for all of us one way. (I've then got an apartment in Ludgate Hill for one night-£85- Club Quarters, booked through www.hotelscomparison.com FYI).

I'm then- and this is th good bit- travelling from Waterloo, to le Gard Nord, all 3 of us £168 return! Beat that- 2h 45min travel time from the centre of London to the centre of Paris! Staying 2 nights- similar story on the way back. So whilst it's not the direct link, I still think it's pretty good.

For the record, it was £29.50 / adult and £25 for under 11s.

FYI I found Jet2 for all 3 of us £186 inc taxes, but the little 'un hasn't been to London before and I reckon this way is much more fun! plus it's city centre to city centre.

Also for anybody who wants to check, when I tried to book a one-way ticket to Paris- the idea being to fly back- the one way journey was quoted as £225! However when I went for a return journey, it was £84 each way! Work that one out! Also when I tried to upgrade to 1st class one way up to £159 (and why not), bacause I ddin't upgrade on the return journey, the system added a £50 surcharge. So I didn't bother!

I hope you find this useful/interesting and not just personal twoddle

[Northbeach]

Hey good planning there Shutty....I fancy a weekend trip with the family to Paris (as cheap as possible) some top tips there.
I once drove my french motor from Manny to it's spiritual home in Paris (it was a 'Paris' model) a few years back. Camped on the Seine for a week, one of our best holidays. Wouldn't recommend driving in Paris mind...

[The Longford]

Good work fella! Bon voyage made all the sweeter by saving yourself some euros eh?

I do like the image of Mr and Mrs Beach and the little Beaches all piling down to France in some sheddy old Renault (?) and competitive dad Northtentpole hammering in the guy ropes!

[markydeedrop]

[skit_uk]

Well that's the end of that then.

Trains for high-speed link handed over to the French

Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent
A fleet of high-speed trains built to connect cities in the Midlands and the North with Paris and Brussels has quietly been handed to France.

The 186mph (300km/h) trains, which cost the British taxpayer £180 million, will be used to carry French passengers between Paris and Lille. Rail groups condemned the decision, which they said exposed the contrast between France’s strong commitment to rail travel and Britain’s failure to back its statements of support with actual investment.

The opening in November of High Speed One, the fast line linking St Pancras station in London with the Channel Tunnel, would have provided an opportunity to start services from Birmingham to Paris, taking about three hours, and Manchester to Paris, taking a little over four.

A short distance north of St Pancras a branch line connects with the West Coast Main Line. This would have allowed trains from regional cities to bypass Central London en route to the Continent. British Rail built seven trains, each with 14 carriages and known as the “regional Eurostars”, to run these services.

Since rail privatisation a decade ago, the plans have been on hold and the trains have been stored in West London, apart from a short period on loan to GNER on the East Coast Main Line.

The Government claimed that there was not enough demand for direct trains from regional cities in Britain to the Continent. There are 20 flights a day from Birmingham and Manchester to Paris. If only half the passengers switched to rail, there would still be enough demand to fill two trains a day in each direction.

The Department for Transport has looked again at the possibility of running regional Eurostar services and is expected to include the idea as part of its long-term strategy for the railways being published this month. But the seven trains will be operating in France at least until the end of 2011. SNCF, the French rail operator, has also had a clause inserted in the contract allowing it to keep the trains for a further two years if it wishes.

Richard Pout, of the lobby group Railfuture, said: “It is scandalous that we are not using these trains ourselves . . . there is a sad irony in seeing trains paid for by British taxpayers going to France, where they understand the value of high-speed rail.

“With just a little more imagination they could give British people a much more environmentally friendly route to the Continent.”

A Eurostar train travelling between London and Paris emits a tenth of the carbon dioxide per passenger that an aircraft would on the same route.

A Eurostar spokesman defended the decision to lease the trains to France: “Like a car, it’s better to have these trains out running rather than sitting in a depot. I’m sure we can get them back if we want them.”

The number of passengers on Eurostar services between London and Paris or Brussels has risen by a third since 2003, from six million to eight million a year.

Eurostar refused to say how much SNCF was paying to lease the trains.

Fast (and faster)

270mph
China: Shanghai airport-to-city express

200mph
France: TGV from Paris to Strasbourg
Spain: Route from Madrid to Seville

125mph
Britain: London-to-Bristol and other intercity lines

[andysimo123]

We shouldn't have brought the bloody things in the first place. Its just another massive error by the current government aka Labour. They don't have a fucking clue.

[Jongeman]

I thought I'd read somewhere that the regional Eurostar carriages had gone to Via Canada for use on 'The Corridor' between Toronto and Montreal, not that it makes much difference.

It's pathetic that regional Britain is the only very densely population region still disconnected from the European high speed network.......but of course we can all fly instead, which apparently people travelling in Europe wouldn't even consider doing.

[Salif]

Originally Posted by Jongeman

I thought I'd read somewhere that the regional Eurostar carriages had gone to Via Canada for use on 'The Corridor' between Toronto and Montreal, not that it makes much difference.

Those were sleeper carriages.

[flange]

Piccadilly to Paris in six hours

RAIL travellers will soon be able to reach Paris from Manchester Piccadilly in just six hours and 10 minutes, Eurostar bosses claim.

A high-speed rail link from London to the Channel tunnel will open in November and the Eurostar terminus is to move from Waterloo to St Pancras.

Journey times to Paris and Brussels will be cut by 20 minutes as a result and rail bosses claim it will create a genuine alternative to short haul flights for travellers heading to Europe from the north west.

But Eurostar chiefs said that they will not be reviving plans to run trains directly from Manchester to the Channel Tunnel unless there is a change of heart by the government over building an £11bn high-speed rail link from London to the north west.

The government pledged the bulk of its railway spending for the next 30 years to a £3.5bn cross-London Thameslink scheme and improvement projects to ease bottlenecks at Reading station in Berkshire and at Birmingham New Street station.

The announcement coincided with the visit to Manchester of bosses from Eurostar who were trumpeting closer links between Manchester and the continent after trains start running from St Pancras via the high-speed Channel Tunnel link to Folkestone on November 14.

They say that, using high-frequency Virgin Trains direct services on the new High Speed 1 line, Paris could be reached in six hours 10 minutes from Piccadilly and just six hours from Stockport.

Eurostar will offer 17 trains a day to Paris and 10 a day to Brussels from the new St Pancras which is a 10-minute walk from Euston. Eurostar will soon hold talks with regional tourism chiefs to investigate boosting tourism from Europe.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co....six_hours.html

[Isaac Newell]

17 trains a day is pathetic.

This is a timetable.

http://jr-central.co.jp/english.nsf/doc/timetable

[The Longford]

That article doesnt really dwell much on the fact that you have to drag your sorry arse half a mile down the Euston Road in the pissing rain with two kids and three bags. You cant get on a train in Manchester and get off in Paris. Intergrated public transport? Long way off.

[Chorltonred]

Originally Posted by The Longford

That article doesnt really dwell much on the fact that you have to drag your sorry arse half a mile down the Euston Road in the pissing rain with two kids and three bags. You cant get on a train in Manchester and get off in Paris. Intergrated public transport? Long way off.

Or you could get the tube.

[Architecty]

The new tram will link the two pretty conveniently.

[Isaac Newell]

Originally Posted by Chorltonred

Or you could get the tube.

Or a taxi

[URBANISER]

I have a Company I want to visit in Paris, I want to allow 4-6 hours to visit the business and I want to be back in the UK by the same evening. Its a non starter I would have to fly....time is money after all. Manc - London or London - Paris is practical. Leisure wise you'd want a bloody long weekend to justify a 12.5 hour train journey, I could fly to the middle east and back in that time.

[Isaac Newell]

There will always be a point of distance were flying becomes more convenient than the train.

If you want to get from London to Lyon you will still have to get a Metro from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon.

An integrated European high speed network needs airport size stations in each city that all trains use.

[Jongeman]

Blimey, Air France and flybe had better watch out. You could always use the Northern Line city branch, very user-friendly with two kids and three bags. I wonder whether a Eurostar ticket between Macclesfield and Gare du Nord will include a free tube connection.....arf!

[Architecty]

Originally Posted by Isaac Newell

If you want to get from London to Lyon you will still have to get a Metro from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon.

Unless I’m very much mistaken you can change onto TGV Mediterranean at Lille, where most (if not all) Eurostar’s stop before the Paris and Brussels routes split off.

From what Ive read TGV has killed domestic flights in France, the same would happen here. Why people Fly Manchester-London even now bewilders me, by the time you travel to and from the airports and deal with checking in it takes longer.

[Isaac Newell]

Originally Posted by Architecty

Unless I’m very much mistaken you can change onto TGV Mediterranean at Lille, where most (if not all) Eurostar’s stop before the Paris and Brussels routes split off.

From what Ive read TGV has killed domestic flights in France, the same would happen here. Why people Fly Manchester-London even now bewilders me, by the time you travel to and from the airports and deal with checking in it takes longer.

You might be able to do that once a day, the vast majority of trains from Lille go to either Bruxelles, Paris or London. If you want a London - Lyon train, the Eurostar website will more often than not give you a train to Paris Nord then a train from Paris Lyon.

My parents have flown on the last two occasions they have visited me, for one simple reason.

It is cheaper.